Young Middle Grade Readers, YES!

A fifth grade teacher in New Haven, CT wrote this about The Ancient Realm:

I am reading it to my class right now. We're only 2 chapters in, but when we finished reading today they begged to hear more! I read it right away and loved it! There is so much interest in fantasy right now with the Lightning Thief and Hunger Games series, but these books are just too difficult and complex for my students. I was so excited reading your book because I think it's perfect for a fifth grade read aloud.

I hear this time and time again from teachers and librarians. The current middle grade fiction trend is to publish big hard backs that adults might also might like, which often leads to dark, complicated, and difficult books. And although I do love Percy Jackson and Katniss Everdeen, these books would have been pretty challenging for me as a 5th grader. I would have ate them up in 8th, but not 4th. Publishers don't want to publish books for just 4th and 5th graders - young middle grade fiction readers. In my opinion that is a big mistake because these readers have exceptional minds and are ready to eat up great adventures. I am thrilled that my book, The Ancient Realm is helping fill the gap in the Young Middle Grade Fiction titles!